Long-term Reparations for a Black Family

The below write-up is from a previous post I made for Courtney but I copy and pasted it as I'm fatigued and it's still relevant.

For those of you who know my blog, you know my friend Courtney needs support. The reality is it is unlikely that that will change soon given that she is a disabled single mom providing for 3 kids with a low-wage job. I love her dearly and she genuinely struggles every day. I want to make the world better for her. I talk often about the power of community care. Courtney needs this consistently. If you are a non-Black person who is financially secure, please consider giving her reparations every month or biweekly. I will put her paylinks below. To work towards and as an accomplice of Black liberation, you need to be committed.

This part is not copy pasted but new.

Currently, her family is struggling with food, getting their water on, and saving for next month's rent. They don't have water at the moment and her son has no clean underwear left. They really need the water back on. The sooner the better. They need 136 more to get the water. If you see this, please send a dollar if possible, or even 50 cents. Small donations add up. Give reparations consistently and commit, but if you can't do it consistently still help out when you can.

Cash.me/browni3mom

Venmo @courtney-reece-85

A tiny activism zine. Free digital download available on my ko-fi!

Trashing Their Rights: Alabama town uses ‘debtors’ prison’ for people in arrears on garbage bills

The SPLC and EJI collaborate to take on Alabama's debtor prison system

well my wife & I had literally just arrived downtown, were still walking down the sidewalk to the bar, when we run into this guy on the corner interacting aggressively with a very anxious-looking woman trying to lock a shop door and two young boys. my wife instantly steps in and firmly asks the man to step back a bit while I check in with the woman. he's obviously drunk and belligerent, and starts shouting at us. "I'm just talking to my son, I'm not allowed to talk to my son?"

she explains very straightforwardly that this is her restaurant she owns, and he's her abusive ex who's always hanging around her restaurant and trying to manipulate the kids by talking shit about her and giving her diabetic son candy. she tells us that the local police and "everyone" knows about this situation, that's she's tried twice to get a restraining order, he's stolen from her and her restaurant multiple times, etc.

he asks my wife and me with disgust if we're "girlfriends or something," to which I respond that it's absolutely none of his business. he asks us why we're in his business, then. She tells us he slapped her a few minutes prior, because of what she was wearing. He says it isn't fair that he "never got to see her like that" while they were dating because he "was always working in her restaurant." I ask him who the fuck told him seeing her ~like that~ was his right.

we ask her if she wants us to walk her to her car/home, and she says she lives a couple blocks away and that would be really good. as we walk away, he tells her "spirits" are going to come and get her tonight. so we walk with her and the kids, let her vent about him and everything she's tried to do to stop this without anything changing, how the police don't care and how they believed him that HER home and restaurant were his because he's a white man and she's a black woman, and they interrogated her while asking him nothing.

On the walk, he walks up behind us to a bit ahead of us to where the older boy is on his bicycle, and starts talking to the older boy again, but not before shouting to us that "men should be with women." She refuses to engage, and we follow her lead. I ask her some questions to get a feel for what she might have or need. We give her our phone numbers and a short spiel about available community resources and the importance of women looking out for other women. I tell her I can connect her with those resources and am happy to arrange help for her to complete the restraining order process, as the barriers preventing her previously have been things like being unable to arrange for childcare so she can go to court. She asks if she can give us hugs, and we say of course.

We stay while she and her piece of shit ex verbally battle for control of the older son. She's asking him to come up to their apartment. We can't hear what he's saying to the kid, but he keeps shifting position to block her from making eye contact with her son. She tells us he is teaching the kid to view and treat women like he does. She tells us the kid needs counseling and is struggling with depression.

We stay until the older son gets his father's permission to go upstairs with her. He approaches us on the corner as we wait to be able to cross, and asks us again about our relationship to each other. We tell him again it isn't his business. He asks why we get to ask for all of his information, then. My wife points out that we didn't even ask his name.

for several long and irritating minutes, he stands a foot away from us running his mouth while we wait to be able to cross. at a couple points, he borders on threatening, but never crosses the line. I keep my hand on my gun in my pocket regardless. I tell him I heard what he said about "spirits" and if anything happens to her tonight (or at all), we'll know who did it. he tells me I'm funny. my wife has already made a phone call, and we have three people on the way from our friend's bar (which is 1 store over from her restaurant). he hears her phone call and tells us that's a bad idea. I ask him if that's a threat. he stays silent as the light finally turns and we begin to cross.

he doesn't follow.

on the way home, we pass three separate police cars, and my blood is boiling hotter each time.

I really hope she's safe tonight. I really hope she reaches out and lets us help.

tonight was a stark reminder that all of our communities are rife with abusive men and abused women, all the time, and nobody is looking out for these women. know your community's needs and resources. any day or night could be the time you stumble across one of these situations. you'll be grateful you have that knowledge to share when you do.

Yesterday, the board of trustees for the library I work at voted unanimously against banning This Book Is Gay by Juno Dawson! This was a huge relief for me (and my fellow staff), and I just wanted to share a few takeaways from this experience.

For context, a library patron had submitted a formal request to have the book removed after seeing it displayed alongside other recent additions to our YA section. He took issue with, of course, the chapter on sex ed and provided pages of out-of-context quotes and straight-up lies to make the book appear "dangerous." Lots of the homophobia and puritanism you'd expect. Per our policies, we formed a committee to address his request, and the committee decided the book was fine where it was. Again per policy, he had the option to appeal to the board of trustees, which he took.

We found out he was doing this 5 days before the next board meeting. And even with that short warning, we had over 150 people show up to a small-town library board meeting that often has few or no public attendees! We couldn't fit everyone in our biggest room! Look at us all!!

Public comments are limited to 3 minutes or less, and that still lasted for more than an hour. People spoke who were parents, teachers, nurses, therapists, voting activists, workers at other libraries, and of course, many queer people. They talked about censorship, freedom of expression, freedom to read, the positive impacts of this book and books like it on youth, their own experiences as queer kids and teens or parents or such, and more--too many perspectives to list here. Every single speaker opposed the book ban. Every. One.

The patron who initiated this challenge was present, but left before public comment was over, without speaking.

So, those takeaways:

This is further evidence that campaigns of censorship and queer erasure are perpetuated by individuals and small groups, and don't represent the common view. You can check out stats on ala.org to back this up, but most people, including most parents, oppose book bans.

This turnout was gathered mainly through texts, email, chats (like Discord), phone calls, and word of mouth. Every town and city has people willing to fight and support those fighting the tides of fascism--keep in touch with your community and your allies, your local friends and trusted acquaintances, and when the time comes for action, they will show up.

Pushback, especially public, visible pushback, demoralizes bad actors. These are often people with little to do except organize and promote their hatred, often people with few material problems demanding their attention. (In this case, a retired eye doctor.) Give them a fight, and they often back down. If they don't back down, see #2 and beat them with numbers and passion.

Even after a victory, stay alert. We're prepping for litigation (not that we think he has a case, but he does have a reputation). We're also keeping a close eye on the smaller libraries in nearby towns and townships. Even if someone like this backs down once, they might try their luck somewhere easier. Keep those contact networks from #2 ready to go.

None of this is comprehensive, and your particular situation may well require different tactics. I'm not an expert, just a chronically online trans woman and librarian who's gotten unexpectedly attached to her current town. It was incredibly heartwarming to see so many people stand up for queer teens where I live, when it usually feels like nobody cares about what's happening to queers in the States. This post has already gone on longer than I expected, I'm just still quite emotional and wanted to talk about it. (Also still mentally drained from the past few days of stress...)

Huge shoutout to everyone who helped make this community action happen. Many of them were more eloquent or piercing in their comments, but here's my 3-minute spiel. It was delivered with none of the eye contact or dramatic reading I'd rehearsed because, holy shit, there were a lot of people there!

Hey Gyns!

I’m sure we’ve all seen a ton of posts asking about how to actually do the on the ground feminist work in our communities, so here is something I’d like to share with y’all that will help you do exactly that.

It’s called The Pad Project. They began in 2013, originally to create a documentary about period poverty in a village in India, but they quickly grew into a worldwide organization to help educate about menstruation and provide women and girls access to period products. They offer a ton of ways to help your community fight period poverty with their Pad Project Toolkit which the screenshots below are taken from. To download the toolkit you can go to their Take Action page and click on the link.

I’ve been donating to them for some time now and I really wanted to do more, which is how I ended up discovering the Toolkit and signed up to be a fundraiser for their BacktoSchool campaign. It’s a U.S campaign to provide girls here in the States period products for the upcoming school year. They also have international campaigns to help raise money for Afghan girls to attend school which I absolutely love. If you go to their donation page it will show all the campaigns you can donate to. $100 will support 25 U.S girls for an entire school year. $290 will help a woman in Afghanistan through an entire year of university and $1,200 will support her throughout undergrad. Other ways you can help in your own community are period product drives and hosting a screening to watch the documentary (this last one is also a good way to connect with other feminists in your community!)

I’ll of course be putting a link down below and will be posting something later about my fundraiser so that you can donate if you are able to. If you want to become a fundraiser as well, there is a link on the donation page that will send you to GiveSmart.com. Al it asks for is your name and an email address. You can then post your fundraiser on your socials and have people text the number to donate :)

Today is #GivingTuesday!

As most of you know I am fundraising to receive life saving ketamine infusions at a clinic in Florida to treat my Complex Regional Pain Syndrome. I cannot tell you how blessed and grateful I am to have this opportunity. There is so little research on CRPS that for years I had no hope of any treatment or symptom management. This disease ate up my life, a life which I now have the chance to get back.

To celebrate Giving Tuesday I want to share 5 things I'm excited to do after treatment:

5. Make more art - This is something that I already do, but with great difficulty. Sculpting and painting are my two favourite forms of visual art but are especially exhausting. I want to pursue my inspiration uninhibited and be able to fully express my creative vision!

4. Interact with nature - Nature has been a huge part of my mental, physical and spiritual healing. I feel most myself when I am deep in nature, but this is difficult for me because forests aren’t very wheelchair accessible. I dream of hiking, swimming, climbing, gardening, exploring this beautiful earth in every way I can.

3. Go back to school - I had to drop out of school in grade 12 because I was too sick to keep up, even with alternate education. I loved school and I love to learn. I want to finish high school and go to university to study film, visual art and writing.

2. Make movies - I am a filmmaker and have been since I first watched a movie. My love for film is my most consistent passion and driving force. I am an artist and a storyteller and I have so much to share with the world!

1. Be myself! - I want to figure out who I am and be that person with my whole heart. I got sick so young that I never had the opportunity to explore myself as an individual human being. I’ve learned so much about myself over the last year and I know there is so much of me left to discover once I am given the chance.

By supporting my fundraiser, whether through donation or sharing, you are helping me live the life I have only dreamed of. For that I am endlessly thankful.

Hi guys it’s been a while since I’ve made one of these but this is Vicki and she owns the ONE and ONLY lesbian bar/ restaurant in Florida, The Lady’s Room, and it’s at risk of closing. She’s tried getting a loan but the banks are refusing despite her good credit. I’ve made a few posts like these that got some great traction, I would love to see Vicki get the support she needs too 🙏🏼

Please consider donating to her GoFundMe!

Currently she’s at $12,203 of her $100k goal (Tuesday April 18, 2023).

Please spread! If you can’t donate atm the next best thing is to boost.

Video transcription under cut

VIDEO TRANSCRIPTION:

Vicki, a butch lesbian, wearing a black jersey sporting rainbow stripes and embroidery reading “love is love” across the left breast, is leaning against a counter with her tattooed arms crossed. A pride flag hangs behind her in what is presumably her bar. The piercings on her face ride the knit of her concerned brow as she speaks. “A month, maybe two, then it’s on the market. I don’t have a choice; I’ve sold all my properties, I’ve emptied my 401k; I’ve tried banks, I’ve tried finance companies…”

“I went in, I said, you know, I wanna take out a loan to invest in my bar, and they said, we can’t do it. Okay, I have 7+ credit score, I own my cars. I own my home… what the Hell.”

“They won’t touch it. I don’t know if it’s because it’s a lesbian bar, but that’s what it felt like.”

The caption “We have one month to save Florida’s only lesbian bar!” is overlaid the video for its duration.

End transcription.

(This is the first time I’ve written a video transcription, I tried to keep in mind what I would find helpful but please lmk what I could do better if you have any suggestions)

I’ve been working as much as possible but and still struggling to make ends meet so any donations would be greatly appreciated

Venmo: @sagerat999

Cashapp: $sagerat999

Help Walaa and her family evacuate from Gaza

This fundraiser was shared with me via @palipunk , please circulate it the best you can so they can evacuate.

What would it take?

Hello America! Our shit's on fire, and we didn't start it! And it makes sense to feel powerless when you are just one person, with limited knowledge, skills, access, and resources. On top of that, deconstructing the ways American white supremacy, colonialism, and imaginary capital have poisoned our ideas about ourselves, each other and the world often means deconstructing our long-standing personal beliefs, values, and identities. It's difficult work. But since enough of us are doing it, and enough of us are beginning to speculate on actionable ways to opt out of the system, we think it would be useful to start collecting ideas in one place. What would it take to divest from capitalism as a community and become self-sustaining? we have no idea. But hopefully enough of us can figure something out if we coordinate.

🇵🇸🇸🇩🇨🇩

-Arda & Sam

TL;DW-- a free to enter animatronics museum in Michigan (as well as I believe several other businesses in the same block) is at risk of being torn down and replaced with a Meijer building and there's a meeting being held by the city tomorrow on the 16th to discuss the prospects of the matter. It was only revealed that the location was at risk in the past 24 hours.

Before we learned I am gluten intolerant, we bought a lot of regular pasta since it was once of my safefoods (ironically enough) and we kinda had no idea what to do with it. I decided I was going to use a couple of cardboard boxes and set up a little station outside my house for people to take it for free if they wanted it, along with a couple other things I can't eat anymore.

It was actually a massive success! By the time Dave came home from work a few hours later, it was all gone. And someone had even left a lovely note on the cardboard <3